2017 U.S. Bank State Baseball Championships

Lordsburg Wins A/2A State Baseball Championship

The Lordsburg Mavericks won the school’s first state title in baseball with a 12-2 win over Mesilla Valley Christian in the 2017 U.S. Bank A/2A State Baseball Championship. Lordsburg finished the year 17-2 overall, while Mesilla Valley ended their 2017 campaign at 12-5.

The story of the game was Lordsburg pitcher Johnny Plowman, who threw 6 1/3 innings against the SonBlazers, striking out five batters, walking just two and allowing just one run on six hits.

Mesilla Valley jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Josh Castillo singled to start the inning, stealing second and advancing to third on a balk before scoring off a single by Noah Coyle, making it 1-0.

The score remained the same until the top of the fifth when the Mavericks scored three, taking a 3-1 advantage. Ja-cob Esquivel singled with two outs, then stole second. He then scored on a single by Plowman, who then advanced to second on an error by the pitcher. Fabian De La O then doubled to score Plowman and eventually scored himself on a single by Raymond Saucedo, making it 3-1, Mavericks.

The SonBlazers added a run in the bottom of the fifth off a single by Castillo, scoring Brock Maddox, who singled to lead off the inning.

Mesilla Valley’s starting pitcher, Castillo, reached his pitch limit for the game in the top of the sev-enth and was replaced by Michael Johnson and then Caleb Gohrick, who gave up 10 runs to the Mavericks in the top half of the inning on six hits.

The Mavericks would hold the SonBlazers to no runs in the bottom of the seventh and hoisted the blue trophy overhead with a 12-2 victory.

Texico Earns Second Straight Blue Trophy in Baseball

The Texico Wolverines (25-3) defeated the Capitan Tigers (13-10) 20-3 in the 2017 U.S. Bank 3A State Baseball Championship game. It was the second straight state championship in baseball for the Wolverines.

Nathan Phipps, who pitched in his second consecutive state title game, threw 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs, one earned run on two hits, while striking out three batters.

Seven of the Texico starters scored in the game and eight had at least one hit.

The Wolverines scored four runs in the top of the first, followed by two runs from the Tigers in the bottom of the inning, making it 4-2 Texico after one.

Then over the next two innings, Texico rattled off nine runs on five hits, walking five times to take a commanding 13-3 lead, as Capitan added one in the bottom of the second.

The Wolverine defense held the Tigers to just two hits over the next three innings of play, while scor-ing seven more runs.

In the end, Texico captured the 3A baseball state ti-tle with a 20-3 win over the Tigers and the second straight championship for the school.

Portales Claims 4A Baseball Championship

The Portales Rams (24-7) took home the blue trophy with an 8-4 win in the 2017 U.S. Bank 4A State Baseball Championship game over Hope Christian. It was the first title for the Rams in baseball since 2012 and the second in school history.

Damian Belden and Josiah Lucero pitched an outstanding game for Portales, combining for just four runs allowed on six hits, while striking out five batters in the game.

The Rams jumped out to an early 1-0 lead the top of the first, as Jordan Garcia tripled to start the inning and even-tually scored on a single by Emilio Lovato. Portales added to their lead in the top of the third with two more runs. Juan Espinoza singled to get things started, then stole second and advanced to third on a balk. Alex Galvan then singled to score Espinoza and eventually scored himself on a wild pitch, making it 3-0 after two and a half innings of play.

The Huskies scored two in the bottom of the third to make it 3-2. Tyler Fickel reached on a walk and Evan Torres singled to put runners at the corners. Estevan De La O doubled to score Fickel and Tor-res, making it 3-2 after three innings.

Then in the top of the fifth, a two-run homerun by Galvan extended the Rams’ lead to 5-2. Hope Christian then pulled to within one run at 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Adam McNichol walked and advanced to third on a double by Brandon Bagon.

McNichol scored on a sac fly by Noah Chavez, followed by a double to center by DeShawn Lee, scoring Bagon, mak-ing it 5-4 in favor of the Rams.

Portales added three insurance runs in the top half of the seventh, extending their lead to 8-4, needing just three outs for the title. Hope Christian put one runner on base in the bottom of the inning but Lucero forced two fly-outs and a ground out, giving Portales the 8-4 victory and the 2017 4A Baseball Championship.

Goddard Wins First Baseball Title since 1992

The Goddard Rockets (25-6) made it back to the championship game in 2017 after a heartbreaking loss in 2016 to Centennial. This time, though, the Rockets would not be denied, winning the 2017 U.S. Bank 5A State Baseball Championship game, 10-3, over the Albuquerque Academy Chargers (23-8).

This was the fourth baseball championship for Goddard and the first since 1992.

The Rockets’ Cal Villareal threw a complete game for Goddard, going seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and striking out three batters.

Goddard got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. Ethan Coombs doubled to leadoff and scored on a sac fly by Cameron Stevenson, making it 1-0.

The Chargers tied the game in the top of the second as TJ Kim singled to reach on base. He then scored off a single by Michael Martinez, knotting the game at 1-1.

The Rockets took the lead again in the bottom of the second, as Matt Shanor reached on a fielder’s choice and ad-vanced to third on an error by the shortstop. Drew Price stepped to the plate and singled to score Shanor, making it 2-1, Goddard.

Goddard added two more runs in the bottom of the third and two in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 6-1.

Then, in the top of the fifth, the Chargers scored two to cut the lead to 6-3. Jon Saiz singled with one out and advanced to third on a double by Sabastian Baca. A sac fly by Markus Parrish scored Saiz from third and Baca scored on a single by Nick Williams.

The Rockets then scored four more runs in the bot-tom of the sixth to lead 10-3 heading into the final inning of play. Academy would load the bases with two outs but a strikeout by Villareal ended the game, giving Goddard the 5A championship.

La Cueva Wins 2017 6A Baseball Championship

The 2017 U.S. Bank 6A State Baseball Championship game was a thriller between two powerhouse baseball pro-grams. The La Cueva Bears (28-1) defeated the Cleveland Storm (24-8), 10-4, to capture the blue trophy for the first time since 2014 and the ninth time in school history.

The Bears’ starting pitcher, Devin Borin gave up two runs on no hits in 1 2/3 innings of play before Wes Alexander-son came in relief, throwing 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on five hits, while striking out two batters.

The Storm was the first to score as Avry Ybarra reached bases after being hit-by-a-pitch. He advanced to second on a sac hit to the pitcher and scored to give Cleveland a 1-0 advantage on a sac fly by Treston Shallenberger.

La Cueva came right back in the top of the second, scoring two runs and taking the lead at 2-1. Isaac Standridge singled to lead-off the inning and advanced to third on a double by Chris Campbell. Standridge scored on a sac fly by Brandon Autry and Campbell scored, following a single by Austin Schlagel.

Cleveland loaded the bases in the bottom of the second and Giacomo Musante scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at 2-2.

The Bears again went up by one at 3-2 in the top of the third, as Ryan Phillips scored on an error by the pitcher. Phillips led the inning off with a single to reach base.

Neither team could push a run across the plate over the next inning and a half.

La Cueva added two more runs in the top of the fifth. Richard Ware doubled to lead off the inning and Phillips walked to put runners at first and second. Then, with one out Standridge, tripled to score Ware and Phillips, making it 5-2 in favor of the Bears.

The Bears’ offense stayed hot in the bottom of the six, as La Cueva added five more runs on six hits, pushing their lead to 10-2.

Cleveland added one run in the six and one in the seventh but it wasn’t enough, as La Cueva captured the blue trophy for the ninth time in school history with a final score of 10-4.